Making history as 1st First Nations woman to win Rhodes Scholarship
Posted December 28, 2022 3:13 pm.
Last Updated December 28, 2022 6:37 pm.
Iakoiehwahtha Patton is making history by being among the first Indigenous women to be selected for this year’s Rhodes Scholarship.
“They were like, ‘congratulations, we’re so excited to tell you that you’re a recipient of the Rhodes Scholarship.’ And I just immediately started crying,” said Patton upon learning the news of her selection.
“As soon as the call ended, I immediately called my mom and I told her ‘I’m a Rhodes scholar.’ And she started crying and she was like, ‘if this is a joke, I’m going to kill you.'”
Originally from Kahnawake, south of Montreal, Patton was selected among 11 individuals in Canada to receive the scholarship.
She says growing up in the Mohawk community had a large role to play.
“This community has been the foundation of my entire being. I grew up really attached to and knowing of my Indigenous identity. It was really important that my parents knew where I came from,” explains Patton.
#WATCH: “I just immediately started crying,” laughs Iakoiehwahtha Patton, as she describes the moment she was told she would be one of the eleven selected from Canada to become a Rhodes Scholar.
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— CityNews Montreal (@CityNewsMTL) December 28, 2022
The Rhodes Scholarship is the oldest international scholarship program, which enables outstanding post-graduate students from around the world to have a fully funded opportunity to study in England at Oxford University.
For Patton, it’s a dream she didn’t know was possible.
“I didn’t know of any Indigenous academics, but especially Indigenous art historians, until I deliberately went out and looked for that information and had those role models to look up to,” she said.
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Patton hopes to further her study of art history at Oxford University. Her focus of study is on Netherlandish art – specifically Dutch colonialism – which ties to her Indigenous roots.
“The Dutch had a colony in the Americas in the 17th century. It’s called New Netherland. And that’s where my people are from. That’s originally where the Kanien’kehá:ka people were from, the Mohawk people. And so there is very much an intrinsic tie there from my identity and my work and where I see myself focusing in on.”
Patton hopes she will serve as a role model for other Indigenous individuals, something she says she never had.
“I know that being the first First Nations female Rhodes Scholar has a weight in that. And I know the responsibility that I hold having that title and if I can be the first that I know that I’m not going to be the last, and that’s what’s really important to me. I’m paving the way not only for myself, but for all the other Indigenous women and men and two spirit and any other people that come after me,” said Patton.
